Ten days after a battle with no clear victor between a monarch bent on tyrannical rule in the manner of a Spaniard or a Caesar and a people determined to preserve the traditional liberties of England, Parliament has agreed to negotiate with King Charles “to settle the Peace of the Kingdom” and “prevent further bloodshed.”

The initiative, proposed October 29 in the House of Lords, received the consent of the House of Commons today, with the understanding that preparations for “the Defence of the Protestant Religion, the Privileges of Parliament, the Laws and Liberties of the Subject, shall be prosecuted with all Vigour.” At the same time, Parliament’s longstanding demand that the King take down his standard prior to any negotiation has been abandoned.

“Unless either side should obtain a swift and decisive victory – which does not seem likely – this sad affair shall grind on inconclusively,” said a source in the House of Lords close to those most desiring peace. “This, with its most unhappy consequences on commerce, and agriculture, and likely plunderings by drunken soldiery, is appalling and unacceptable.”

Parliament’s preparations include a proposed invitation to Scotland’s army to enter England and suppress the forces of the Marquis of Newcastle in the North. According to Parliamentary sources, this move – likely to be highly unpopular, given the Scots’ long history of subsidizing their poverty through cross-border raids on the wealth of its more successful neighbor – is necessary in light of the King’s renewed calls for Catholics to follow his standard and overtures to Denmark for military aid. This overture to Scotland has yet to receive the assent of the Lords.

ROUTED REGIMENTS

The appearance of a faction in Parliament clamoring for peace comes after the battle between the King’s army and that of the Earl of Essex ten days ago near Kineton in Warwick.

The more disreputable newsbooks, including the Mercury, the Times and the Post, all proclaimed a complete and crushing victory for the King and bawled for immediate surrender. The truth, as is often the case, is more prosaic.

Rupert’s horse did succeed in routing that that of Parliament on the left and right wings, repeating the success obtained near Powick Bridge south of Worcester on September 23. But the absence of his troopers from the field, as they plundered the baggage-train of the Earl of Essex, left the King’s foot defenseless against an attack by the unbroken horse of Sir Philip Stapleton and Sir William Balfour.

Two regiments of the King’s foot were completely routed, including the Royal Foot Guards. The Earl of Lindsay, the commander of the King’s army who personally led the Guards into battle after Charles sided with Rupert over numerous questions of strategy and discipline, was killed; so too Sir Edmund Verney, the Knight Marshal, who fell with the King’s banner in a grip that could not be broken, even in death.

The battle ended with neither side dominating in the field, and each and hesitant to resume the attack.

The next day the Earl of Essex – by then reinforced with the unbloodied regiment of Colonel John Hampden and a few troops of horse – withdrew toward Warwick. The King’s forces marched south, taking Banbury and despoiling the house of Lord Say. He entered Oxford on October 29, to the general acclaim of the scholars and universities, which have given their Sovereign all monies in their treasuries and granted a degree to Prince James. It’s widely expected that Charles, at the urging of Rupert, will advance on London by way of Reading.

SPIRIT OF DEFIANCE

Parliament may waver, and the magnates of the Merchant Adventurers eager to trade their liberties for a guarantee of their monopolies over commerce, but most Londonders, particularly the largely Puritan tradesmen and lesser merchants, have no intention of surrendering their city to the tender mercies of Rupert’s troops.

Rumors of the King’s advance have awakened a spirit of defiance. Men, women and children are joining to chain the streets and construct earthworks. Armed men are flocking in from the nearby countryside, to join the Trained Bands commanded by the veteran Sir Philip Skippon.

They’ll be joined, and it’s believed soon, by the army of the Earl of Essex, marching toward London by way of Northampton. It’s to be hoped and prayed that Essex, and Parliament, will show the same strength of will and tenacity of purpose as the Londoners.